Can you “Say Anything” in Comedy?

I am writing this post a day after Tony Hinchcliffe “performed” at the Republican conference and made some “jokes” about Puerto Rico and then it blew up and, at least for right now, everyone is talking about it.

I have a lot of thoughts and my first thought was “If only I had a comedy blog where I could put all these thoughts to virtual paper!” OH WAIT A MINUTE, I DO!

And here we are! The question for today’s blog post is, “Can we say anything in Comedy?”

But before we get there, here’s a brief story about one of the worst shows in my career to date.

One Of My Worst Shows Ever

About 6 years ago, I was invited to perform at a middle school youth group conference somewhere in Alabama. I was telling jokes to a room full of 400 6th through 8th graders…what could go wrong?

Long story short, I was supposed to do 45 minutes of comedy and they cut me off at 15 minutes. They later told me the reason I was being cut was because my act was sexist, racist, and homophobic. Many comics get called one of these every now and again, I am a triple threat that was called all 3 in 1 show!

In case you’re wondering,

The racist joke was when I referenced a time someone called me Taco Bell

The homophobic jokes were when I was talking about how people confuse me for being gay because of my high voice

The sexist joke was when I referenced putting a girl in a trunk
(OK, in hindsight this complaint might have checked out)

Also you can hear all of these jokes and more in my 2019 special, Revolutionizing Failure if you want.

6 years later, I can look back at this show and accept some of the blame for what happened. I am not racist, sexist, or homophobic, but I should have read the room WAY BETTER and chosen not to do any of those jokes…At the time, that was the best I had and I wasn’t experienced enough to know that some rooms don’t need to hear some of my jokes.

Back to the Main Question…

So as comedians, can we really say anything on stage?

The short answer is…

Yes.

Yes we can say whatever we want on stage, and as soon as that changes in this country, we are looking at a place with less free speech. (Which I think would be a problem)

But as comedians, it is a lot more complex then a simple “Yes” to that question. Humor is subjective, and we must always read the room that we are in.

You can say whatever you want on stage, but there are such things as consequences. What you say may result in someone laughing at your joke. Or you may piss someone off, and they may meet you in the parking lot later for some more “hands on” entertainment with their fists.

You can say whatever you want on stage, and it could result in getting rebooked in the same room because everyone loves what you say…or it could result in you never getting booked in that room again, and the booker calling all their friends and saying “Trust me, don’t book that comedian!”

You can say whatever you want on stage, but just know what you say will shape what people think of you. More then that, what you say will result in people not having a good time while you are performing, or they could really connect with your comedy and your act could be the best part of their week.

When you’re a comedian at a comedy show, what is your purpose? What is your job? Why are you there?

My answer to these questions are, “I am there to create space for the audiences to have a good time. My job is to make them laugh. I am there to entertain.”

In my opinion, if I (or you) are not doing these things, then you are not being a comedian.

That is why it is so important to know how to read a room and understand an audience. Because humor is subjective. Comedy has different genres just like music, all though it may be a little less defined. You can absolutely go into any room and make jokes about whatever you want, but if it rubs the room the wrong way…there 100% will be consequences. Maybe it’s as light as them not laughing, or maybe it’s worse then that…but all comedians will do well to know this truth about standup before they get up and say whatever they want, to whoever.

Just so you know, bigger name comics already know this truth and are usually ready to accept whatever “consequences” come their way when they decide to do those crazy unbelievable routines that usually make it to the news.

I would bet a lot of money that Tony Hinchcliffe knew exactly what he was doing when he told his “jokes” last night. He’s done comedy for a while. (Every other sentence he utters he lived in his car 17 years ago) He knows his voice, and him doing this act at the political conference last night was 100% an intentional decision.

Speaking of Tony…

Whether you appreciate Tony’s humor or think it’s trash, as a comedian I think it’s a fair statement to say he did not pick the right jokes for the room he performed at last night. Don’t agree with me? That’s fine, but just so you know, the Republican conference came out and detached themselves from his bit pretty quickly…so even if you don’t agree that he didn’t read the room, the room agrees with me.

But what really has been on my heart with all of this is something that goes deeper then just his bad set last night…We’ve all done rooms and it didn’t go well, that’s Comedy.

I would like to start asking comics to go a little further then asking the question, “Can I say this on stage?”

Another great question is “Should I say this on stage?”

One of my favorite Bible verses says “Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial” In other words, something I heard a lot growing up was “Just because you can say something, doesn’t mean you should.”

When I work with new comics they will ask me at my clean shows, “Can I say this on stage?” Frequently in the back of my head my answer is, “Yes, but why would you want to?”

Now, if you will indulge me, let me tell you why I can’t stand Kill Tony and the genre of comedy that Tony Hinchcliffe and many other comics share.

(Also, I understand that comedy is subjective and we are allowed to have different opinions and we can still be friends!)

My Beef With Kill Tony

Several years ago I had a friend that did Kill Tony 3 times and they kept bringing her back solely so that they could make fun of her in front of a big crowd. Of course she agreed to put herself in this situation and she had a lot of issues back then…but the fact that these people called her back (and then picked her name out of the bucket on purpose, because shocker, bucket spots aren’t completely up to chance in Comedy) is pretty deplorable. She was not very mentally stable at the time and they 100% were capitalizing on it for laughs and views.

The ending result was she stopped doing comedy forever and has completely gone off the grid because of all the bullying and toxicity of social media. Kill Tony helped her kill her career as a comedian.

Which is fine…maybe we don’t need any more comedians right now…but what do you think that did to her value of herself? That’s the real problem.

And it wasn’t just my friend. This weekend I actually went into a Kill Tony deep dive (as if I was unintentionally preparing for this blog post) and listened to a few episodes on my way to a gig. In one, Tony and friends really tore apart this guy from Mississippi mostly because of his accent and because where he was from. Yes, he put himself up there and yes he probably was loving it (because in his mind his career is about to take off because he is on Kill Tony).

In another episode I heard them roasting a guy because his parents were rich and owned a vacuum company. The premise of a lot of the jokes were about what a disappointment this guy was to his rich family.

“It’s all jokes” you might say. And you wouldn’t be wrong. But how much do you bet that this particular comedian is told frequently by his rich parents that he IS a disappointment? (If you have ever told your parents you do comedy…you have been told your a disappointment probably, so I’d say chances are pretty high!)

The reason I hate this show is because it’s taking comedians (People who notoriously are broken people with low self esteem) and profiting off of shitting on them for the sake of laughter…and all the comics meanwhile take it because they are so desperate to grow their careers that they’d sit through Tony and his boys (and occasionally one woman) ridiculing them on the most personal level. And Tony and friends know it, and they still do it.

Now before I jump back to the point of this article, let me say one nice thing about Kill Tony…I can’t deny that it’s an achievable first TV credit for a lot of indie comics. In this industry, you often are ignored before you have decent credits, but you can’t get those credits without having credits….and the fact that Kill Tony has helped start many careers in an industry where “starting” is almost impossible is something positive…I don’t agree with their methods, but part of me does appreciate the results. And yes I know that’s contrary to everything I just wrote, but I feel like I want to include it somewhere…so here seems fine!

Anyone who knows Tony Hinchcliffe based on his show and material should not at all be surprised by what came out of his mouth last night. You get what you paid for, and someone paid him to go be a comedian at the Republican Conference.

But here’s what I really want to address…

It’s Okay NOT To Joke About Topics, Even If We Can

I am 100% one of those people that will get pissed when I here a racist, homophobic, or transphobic joke. People will respond, “But it’s comedy!” And my first response is, “But is it?”

And you know what? Humor is subjective, and by that standard I guess they are right…it IS comedy.

But if someone is laughing at statements like “Puerto Rico is a garbage dump”….what does that tell you about that person? What does it tell you about yourself if you’re making those jokes?

Why is it funny to you or them?

Are these really the people you’re wanting to fill your fanbase with? Are these really the people you’re picturing are out there telling all their friends at the next clan meeting that “He’s my favorite comedian!”

Just because we can joke about certain topics, doesn’t mean we should. Jokes that degrade people, jokes that crap on a people group that are already dealing with so much…maybe in 2024 we start developing to the point where we stop trying to find humor at the expense of crappy things in this world that should be better by now.

By the way, I didn’t invent this idea…the technical phrasing in comedy classes is “Don’t Punch Down” and it’s actually pretty common.

So yeah…that’s a lot of my thoughts about today’s news in the Comedy World…I’d love to hear your responses or push back if you want! Comment below and I’ll try to do better at checking for comments on this blog then I have been!